Obesity statistics

You only have to pick up the papers or watch the news to realise that the statistics associated with obesity in the United Kingdom make for frightening reflection. Whichever way you look at it the problem is getting more and more serious.

Whether it’s the percentage of the adult population expected to be obese by 2015 or the dramatic rise in NHS obesity surgical procedures to tackle obesity the situation makes for difficult reading.  Recent figures released show a 40% increase in NHS obesity surgery alone and nobody believes this figure is set to fall soon.

A recent report highlighted the main problems facing the UK. Nine out of 10 British adults and two-thirds of children will be overweight or obese by the middle of this century unless eating and exercise habits change, Health Secretary Alan Johnson has warned.

Predictions from a Government agency suggest that the cost to the UK of the obesity epidemic will treble to £50 billion a year by 2050 unless urgent action is taken.  

Coupled with global statistics from The World Health Organization which predicts there will be 2.3 billion overweight adults in the world by 2015 and more than 700 million of them will be obese, it’s clear this isn’t a problem limited to the UK alone.

Different reports can of course contradict one another in terms of the actual rise in obesity but it is clear they all agree on one thing. The problem is getting more serious.

However it is worth remembering that the National Obesity Surgery Centre is expanding operations to help cope with dramatic increase in demand for obesity surgery procedures.  Last year alone (2008) saw a 350% increase in procedures done by the National Obesity Surgery Centre and the organisation began offering obesity surgery procedures from  three new clinics in the UK bringing the total to eight clinics nationally.